Mobile or portable devices have become increasingly popular and prevalent in today's society. Many users utilize a mobile device, such as a mobile phone, as their primary means of communication. Mobile devices can include multiple functions such as cellular phone service, voice over Internet protocol (“VoIP”), software applications, email access, Internet capabilities, calendar functions, music players and the like. Functions, features and capabilities have increased both the utility and complexity of mobile devices. It is likely that functions will continue to be added to mobile devices further increasing both usefulness and intricacy.
A graphical user interface is a part of a mobile device used for manipulating and controlling functionality. A graphical user interface typically starts with a default screen (also called a home screen or start screen), which includes a plurality of icons. Each icon is a graphic symbol that represents a program, command or data file that can be launched or opened upon selection of the icon.
Generally, there is a one-to-one relationship between an icon and the program, command or data file associated with the icon. Thus, each icon on the user interface is its own discrete image and is independent and often unrelated to other icons on the user interface. Additionally, there is little or no ability to aggregate or connect icons in a logical manner.
Users are placing more and more icons on their default screen as the number of available applications (particularly for phones) expands. At the same time, mobile phone sizes are constantly pressured to be reduced, which impacts screen size. The result is often an unwieldy number of icons with little or no organization.